Women Lawyer “Firsts”

Because there are many glass ceilings as yet unbroken, noting “firsts” of women in the law is a matter for current events, not just history long past. It should therefore be the task of women’s bar associations, journalists and others interested in the progress of women to ensure that new “firsts” are identified and noted, but only after appropriate research.  It is sometimes the case that someone assumes that because something hasn’t happened in recent memory, it has never happened.  Once someone is misidentified as a “first,” the mistake is often picked up in subsequent articles and references.  Eventually, history is re-written.  Adding to the difficulty of identifying “firsts” is the fact that memories vary, bar associations didn’t track members by gender until relatively recently, and definitions aren’t uniform.  For example, what does it mean to be the “first female lawyer in the United States”?  Is it Margaret Brent, who appeared in court in the Colony of Maryland, or Arabella Mansfield, who was admitted to the bar of Iowa in 1869?  Click here for an article about the historical perspective on women lawyers and state bar admission.  Careful categorization and precision in language will help to keep the historical record straight!